It is no surprise that BigLaw attorneys charge lots of money, and that veteran Supreme Court litigators are at the top of the pecking order of that group. But it is a bit of a jolt to hear of a lawyer billing a whopping $1,800 per hour.

According to court bankruptcy case filings that give a rare glimpse into the billing rates of lawyers at Gibson Dunn, that is the amount partner Ted Olson pulls in for 60 minutes of his time, reports the Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog.

The rate charged by former solicitor general, who is known for his work on countless high-profile high court cases from Bush v. Gore to the current challenge to California’s Proposition 8, is the highest on record according to a database of publicly-disclosed rates. Also pulling in the big bucks at the firm is Justice Antonin G. Scalia’s son Eugene, who bills a respectable $980 per hour despite the fact that his father once said: “There’s something wrong with a system where getting someone just a little bit brighter is worth that kind of money.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 7th, 2012 at 8:10 am and is filed under Legal celebs, Supreme Court. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.